The Lectures series event

Lectures in Entrepreneurship is coordinated by the Center of Entrepreneruship at Westminster College and has been an extremely successful series event over the past 5 years. The Center brings in a wide variety of prominent entrepreneurs to speak, tell their stories, and share their experiences and keys to success. All of the lectures are free to the public in the BIll and Vieve Gore School of Business (click for campus map). It is also offered as an optional course for credit for all Westminster student. Everyone is invited to share in this invaluable experience.

March - April 2015: Every Wednesday, 6:00 pm & 8:20 pm, in the Gore Auditorium.

Inspiring change in people for over 25 years, Deborah Tutnauer, digs deep to help authentic entrepreneurs move away from the stories that no longer serve them while clarifying and solidifying those that really do! Deborah helps frustrated entrepreneurs get incredibly clear about meaning, purpose and expertise, then facilitates the creation of a financially sustainable and joyfully structured framework in which businesses and its’ people thrive. Coaching both privately and in groups, Deborah is also a speaker, author, event leader and consultant. Creator of the Foundation and Framework Intensive, Question Master and Leader of the Entrepreneur Business Success Club, Deborah has been called an “Architect of Magical Business and Soul Structure”.

Jonathan is a valued leader in Utah. He attended BYU for both his undergraduate and law degrees, later clerking at the Utah Supreme Court and practicing law at two international law firms. Jonathan has been a key part in Overstock.com’s impressive rise as one of the nation’s most successful and recognized online retailers; moving up through the ranks to President and CEO until moving into his current Chairman of the board position. Jonathan strives to affect positive change both locally and nationally. His efforts have been recognized by his community and multiple national magazines.

Mark Burton,

Founder, Chairman and CEO --March 25th at 8:00PM:

International Armoring Corporation (IAC)

Mark F. Burton currently serves on a number of organizational boards, he is a partner in the Utah Angel investor group, and owns numerous companies as well. He is a member of the local University’s Founder’s Circle, and sits on the University’s President Council. Mr. Burton has received numerous awards including Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” and CMA’s “Financial Executive of the Year.” He has been featured in various media stories including Business Week, Newsweek, and Time Magazine among others. On top of his entrepreneurial success he is married with five children.

Noah Cahoon is the 14-year old CEO of Paper Box Pilots. All kids love to play in cardboard boxes; including Noah. He developed a product around this timeless activity and turned it into a successful toy company. Noah impressed the investors of ABC’s TV show Shark Tank and landed a deal with toy industry veteran Kevin O’leary. He is also an Eagle Scout, a ninth grade student and a sports lover. Noah enjoys piano and is a backcountry snowboarder. He has big plans for the future.

Brian Cahoon is Noah’s father. Last year he set out to give his son some entrepreneurship skills and practical business experience. It wasn’t long before Noah’s venture literally “took off”. The ‘risk adverse’ father of four is a solutions consultant for Oracle.

In 2009, the first Uptown Cheapskate opened its doors for business in Salt Lake City, Utah, but the idea of opening a trendy, re-sale, clothing store for teens and young adults started brewing years prior. On the day Chelsea came home from her mission in Anchorage, Alaska in 2006, she and her brother, Scott Sloan, initiated plans for what would be known as Uptown Cheapskate. With its chic vibe and upscale approach, Uptown Cheapskate was born. The Uptown model proved viability early on, and the first franchise location was opened just a few months after the pilot store. This unique, environmentally friendly concept started receiving accolades from multiple sources. She later went on to become the first female to win the 2012 Entrepreneur's Organization's Global Student Entrepreneur Award (GSEA). Today, Uptown Cheapskate has expanded to over 40 locations in 17 states.

Ryan Smith co-founded Qualtrics in 2002 with the goal of making sophisticated research simple. As CEO, he has grown the company from a basement startup to one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world. Qualtrics has more than 6,000 enterprise customers including half of the Fortune 100, 1,600 colleges and universities worldwide, and 99 of the top 100 business schools. In 2012, Qualtrics received a $70 million investment from Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital, the largest-ever joint investment by these two firms. Additional funding was secured in 2014 to support the company’s continued product innovation and rapid international expansion. Ryan was named one ofForbes’“America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35” for 2013, is a frequent contributor to many financial and entrepreneurial focused newspapers and magazines.

Growing up in an entrepreneurial family, it was second nature for Stuart to join Qualtrics with his longtime friend Ryan in its humble basement beginnings. Stuart helped scale the company to its first 1,000 customers and hired the first 200 employees. As the company expanded its product line, Stuart led the product development for Qualtrics 360, a talent and leadership assessment platform. As chief operating officer, Stuart is responsible for hiring and recruiting while Qualtrics doubles its employee count annually. Stuart has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.

Jason was born and raised on the Oregon coast in the beautiful city of Coos Bay making him a huge Ducks fan. He started his first company in college at the age of 21. It was a massive success and an even bigger failure. However, the knowledge and experience he learned from this was invaluable. Since then he has started a handful of other companies with varying levels of success and is currently the President and Founder at Friendemic. Friendemic is a social media software and services company founded in 2010 and serving hundreds of clients nationally.

Dr. Rasmussen co-founded BioFire Diagnostics in 1990. He became President and CEO after BioFire was acquired by BioMérieux in January of 2014. Dr. Rasmussen is an inventor on over 20 patents in the field of real-time PCR. These patents have been licensed to Roche, BD, DuPont, Qiagen, and over 30 other molecular biology companies. Prior to BioFire Diagnostics, Dr. Rasmussen worked at the University of Utah and Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Engineering Consultants. Dr. Rasmussen has a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Utah and a B.S in Biochemistry from Utah State University

Jim Holbrook began his entrepreneurial journey over 25 years ago. With over 30 years’ experience in the plastic industry he has worked to improve efficiencies in design and manufacturing, leading to more cost effective ways to display product and reduce the plastic footprint in packaging. After growing the company steadily for 16 years, he accelerated the growth 9 years ago. Since then the company has grown 700%. Premier Plastics Inc. solidified its spot on the 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies in America list for the last 3 years, made the Utah’s Fastest Growing 100 Companies list as well, and ranked 67th in US Manufactures. His commitment to his employees and community is apparent through his efforts within Premier Plastics Inc. and community.

Nicole Lawson originally ran the bakery production side of New Grains Gluten Free Bakery while her husband handled the business side of this. However, once her husband's health began to decline she started to oversee everything. On top of everything, she is the mother to seven children. Before taking over the business she had never had a job outside of childcare. Despite this, New Grains did over $700,000 in sales last year and has 17 full time employees with much more expected potential.

Mike is the Executive Director of the Clark Center for Entrepreneurship in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. He has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, business consultant and university professor. He is the founder and former CEO of Golden Swirl Management Company and of Northern Lights. He is also the cofounder of My New Enterprise. Mike has consulted with numerous corporations in the areas of business strategy, organization effectiveness and leadership development. Mike has held faculty positions at the University of North Carolina, Westminster College and Utah State University. He has published numerous articles in professional journals, and two books on entrepreneurship: Glorious Accidents and The Business of Heart. Mike recently completed a 4,000 cross country bicycle ride to interview 100 thriving entrepreneurs. Mike received a Ph.D. from Purdue University, and BS and MS degrees from the University of Utah.

Shawn has extensive experience as a successful entrepreneur, and an executive and business consultant. He has built two other companies besides My New Enterprise and sold them to top leaders in the Transportation and Logistics Industry. Shawn has directed business plan competitions and advised countless entrepreneurs on launching and growing successful ventures. He has held faculty positions at Utah State University in the areas of New Venture Development, New Venture Management and New Venture Financing. Shawn has consulted with numerous small businesses to create strategic execution plans for business expansion and growth. He has met with and interviewed hundreds of highly successful entrepreneurs all across the globe and has a unique perspective on the attributes of successful business builders. Shawn has helped create performance-training systems for corporations, small businesses, and direct sales companies. Shawn received a BS in Accounting and an MBA from Westminster College.